1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a diagnosis and a treatment of endometriosis and, more particularly, to a diagnosis and a treatment of endometriosis in use of microRNA 199a-5p.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endometriosis is a common gynaecological disorder in which arises when endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterine cavity. Besides dysmenorrhoea and chronic pelvic pain, 30 to 50% of patients suffer from symptoms of infertility. Moreover, endometriosis may be also associated with ovarian cancer, thereby dramatically impairing the quality of life.
Generally, endometriosis can be diagnosed by determining level of CA-125 antigen in serum. However, high-performance of CA-125 may be associated with not only endometriosis, but also ovarian cancer. Moreover, level of CA-125 in serum also increases during menstruation and pregnancy. Therefore, CA-125 is not a suitable biomarker for diagnosis of endometriosis.
On the other hand, conventional treatment improves endometriosis by regulating hormone level in patients. For example, Danazol with androgenic activity down-regulates estrogen and inhibits growth of endometriosis. However, Danazol may cause several side effects, such as hirsutism, acnes and voice changes. Gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists (GnRH-a) work by inhibiting secretion of FSH and LH. However, long-term administering of GnRH-a may lead to osteoporosis. In light of this, it is necessary to provide a treatment of endometriosis.
The microRNA precursor miR-199a is a short non-coding RNA with the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1. After enzymatic digestion by Dicer, the miR-199a precursor can be processed to generate the 23-nt miR-199a-5p with the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2. The miR-199a-5p shows effects on regulating specific gene expression.